Good evening. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number one. Hymn number one. Oh, worship the King. ? All glorious above ? ? And gratefully
sing ? ? His power and his love ? ? Our shield and defender ?
? The ancient of days, pavilion of years ? O tell of His might! O sing of His grace! Whose robe is the light? Whose canopy space? Barriots of wrath, the deep thunderclouds
form, and dark is his path on the wings of the storm. Thy bountiful care brought side. It breathes in the air. It shines in the light. From the hills it descends to
the plain, And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. Frail children of dust, ? In Thee do we trust ? ? Nor find
Thee to fail ? ? By mercy so tender ? ? How firm to Thee ain't
? ? Power maker, defender ? ? Redeemer and free ? Be seated. We'll sing hymn number 67. Number
67. Oh, Savior, as my eyes behold
the wonders of thy might untold, The hands in glorious flight
arrayed The vastest creation Thou hast made In death to Thee
Thou lovest me My heart cries out, How can it be? How can it be? How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? Oh, how can it be? All sigh, humbly bow, and gaze
upon thy thorn-crowned brow, and view the vicious, fleeting
form by cruel nails so bruised and torn. In grief I cry, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love a soul like
me? Oh, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? What's ever grace so full and
free from heights of glee? In loving kindness thou didst
go. Come sin and shame to rescue
me, O love divine, how can it be? How can it be? Good evening. If you have your
Bibles, let's open them to Revelation 14. We'll read the first 13 verses. And I looked, and lo, a lamb
stood on the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty
and four thousand, having his father's name written in their
foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven,
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.
I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And
they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before
the four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song
but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed
from the earth. These are they which were not
defiled with women for they are virgins. These are they which
follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed
from among men being the first fruits unto God and to the lamb.
and in their mouth was found no guile, and they are without
fault before the throne of God. And I saw another angel fly in
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred
and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God and
give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come. and
worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the
fountains of waters. And there followed another angel,
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. And the third angel followed him, saying with a loud
voice, if any man worship the beast in his image and receive
his mark in his forehead or in his hand, The same shall drink
of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment
ascended up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor
night, who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth
the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints.
Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the spirit that they
may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. Our great and glorious Father
in heaven, we come give him thanks for the word. We give him thanks
for that precious son. We ask thee to send thy spirit
once again among this congregation. Be with us as we go into worship.
May all things honor Christ tonight, Lord, as brother Donnie brings
the word. We ask thee to be with the sick
of the congregation. Touch them with a healing hand,
if it be thy will. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. Page 26 in our course book. Number 26 in the course book.
We'll save the course for the last. Come ye sinners poor and needy,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power. Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty glorify. True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings you nigh. Let not conscience make you linger. nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to feel your need of him. Come ye weary, heavy laden, Lost
and ruined by the fall, If you tarry till you're better, you
will never come at all. I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in His arms,
in the arms of my dear Savior. Oh, there are ten thousand charms. Thank you. Genesis 11. Genesis 11. We won't have a meal here next
Sunday. We always have a first Sunday
meal. But not next Sunday. We'll have our regular services
because we'll have a meal on our, the Sunday on our meeting. So next Sunday, which is next
weekend's when the time changes, we'll just have our regular services
because we'll have also a meal on the last day of our meeting. And do remember Cody and Rachel,
their little boy Isaac. He's still not doing well. They haven't heard from the MRI
yet. He had some trouble this week
with one side of his hand and part of his head shaking. He'd
just fall over. He'd just fall over. And so do
remember them. That would be a tough thing to
handle. Having a child, you don't know
what's the matter with them. And Dion's been over there with them
and folks at church have been helping as much as they can.
So please remember them. I'm going to read the first nine
verses here of chapter 11. And the whole earth was of one
language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they
journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of
Shinar, and they dwelt there. And they said one to another,
Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they
had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they
said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top
may reach up to heaven. And let us make us a name, lest
we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And
the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the
children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the
people is one, and they have all one language, and this they
began to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them
which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there
confound their language, that they may not understand one another's
speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad
from thence upon the face of all the earth, and they left
off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called
Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all
the earth, and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad
upon the face of the whole earth." At any moment in history, we
can see man as he is, we can, at any moment of history we can
see man as he is, without understanding about God, without understanding
about how God saves a sinner, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, and that's what these men do. Now
these are the descendants, chapter 12 talks about the descendants
of Noah after the flood, and he had three sons, Shem, Ham,
and Jepheth, And Ham, you know, was the one that was cursed.
Ham begat Canaan. And then you find here as you
go down through here, Noah said, you know, that God would eventually
scatter all His sons and scatter the earth, scatter all the nations
across the earth, but He hadn't done it yet. And I want you to
look there in verse Verse 8, and it says, Cush, he is a descendant
of Ham, begat Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
Here's a fellow that was really somebody. He was a mighty hunter
before the Lord, wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod, the
mighty hunter before the Lord. And listen to this, in the beginning
of his kingdom was Babel, Erlach, Akkad, Chalna, and the land of
Shinar, and out of that land went forth Asher. And look at
the city HE built, Nineveh, and the city of Raboth. So two of
Canaan's sons, great-great-grandsons, one of them built Babylon, and
the other one built Nineveh, two of the greatest wind-sinful
cities ever known in the history of mankind. And so these two
men are responsible for a lot of wickedness on this Earth.
And you know, we see Noah s fulfillment, God divided the races and scattered
them through all the Earth. And you know, after the Flood, what did men
do? What did they do? You know, thought there d be
a new world after the Flood, but man s going to be what he
s going to be. And what do these men do after the flood? They
revolt against God Almighty. That's what they do. And they
seek to glorify and deify themselves. That's what Nimrod did. He was
a mighty hunter. He was a mighty one. He was a
mighty one. And I tell you what, he was really
somebody. It says here that he was the
mightiest one, mighty hunter, mighty hunter. And you know,
and I want to give you several points out of this Tarot of Babel
First of all, here's human ambition, human ambition. That word Nimrod,
you know the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. The beginning
of his kingdom was Babel. He started him a kingdom, and
his kingdom is called Babel. And I'll tell you, he is the
descendant of Ham and Cush, and here he is, he has great human
ambition. And I'll tell you, Nimrod, you
know what it means? It means rebel. Nimrod was a
mighty one in the earth. He was well respected among men.
He was really somebody, mighty man, mighty one. And I tell you,
he was so mighty that he decided, I'm gonna build me a city and
build me a tower. And I'll tell you what, he was
a rebel, that's what his name meant, rebel. And man's born
a rebel and live a rebel and die a rebel if God don't intervene
for him. And I tell you, here s what he
did. He struggled for preeminence. He struggled for preeminence.
He wanted preeminence in the earth, and as a mighty hunter
that means he was bloodthirsty. He was a bloodthirsty man. He
was cruel. He pursued his own ambitions.
That s what it means he was a mighty one. He openly defied the Lord,
I?m going to build me a city, I?m going to build me something,
I?m going to make myself a name, I?m going to accomplish some
things, and human ambition. And you know I see ambition,
I?ve seen a lot of people with a lot of ambition, and I?ve seen
a lot of names dropping over the years of people that know
people And they want you to know that they know certain people,
and take care of certain people, and go to country club with certain
people, and have this kind of people, and that kind of people.
Well, this way Nimrod was. Everybody wanted to be around,
he wanted to be the mighty one, the preeminent one, and pursued
his own ambition. Now the word Babel, the word
Babel, at the beginning it meant gate of God. That s what it meant,
gate of God. going into the presence of God.
You know what it stands for now? Confusion. Went from the gate
of God to confusion. Babel means confusion, and that's
exactly what it means. And I tell you, out of the heart
are the issues of life. And look at the object of this
ambition. Look at the object of this ambition. Look down in verse 4. You talk
about ambition, look at the object of it, out of the heart are the
issues of life. And they said, Go to, go to,
let us build us a city and a tower that may reach unto heaven, and
this is what they wanted to do. What was the reason for it? Let
us make us a name. Let us make us a name. Oh, that's
what we want to do. We want to make a name for ourselves.
We want to make a name for ourselves. John told about diatrophies. He LOVES to have the preeminence,
and he wouldn t even receive John. John wanted to go visit
the people there where the saints of God were, God s elect, and
the elect lady. He wanted to go visit them, and
diatrophies, who love to have the preeminence, he wouldn t
receive us. He would have had nothing to
do with us. I run this place. I ve got the name. I ve got the
power. I ve got the authority around here. And I tell you,
the Scriptures tells us, if any man thinks he knows anything,
he knoweth nothing as he ought to know. And if any man thinks
himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. And that's what this fellow thought.
He said, oh my, let's make us a name. Let's make us a name. And I tell you, name making is
common in a popular business. It really is. But look at the
end of those who do it. Oh my. You know, look over, keep
Genesis 11. Look in Proverbs 20. Look in
Proverbs 20 with me. Proverbs 20. You know, there
was a fella that came, his name was Korah. and some of the princes
of Israel, and they came and told Moses. They said, Moses, you take too
much on yourself. You re not the only holy one
around here. You re not the only one around here that can do things.
You re not the only one around here that can do something. And Korah decided that, Listen,
I m going to take over here. I m going to, you know, Moses,
I ve got as much authority, and I m as holy as you are, and I
m as good as you are, and I can preach as good as you do. And
Korah and a whole bunch of folks, they gathered around there and
tried to take over Israel, tried to take over Moses s place. Do
you know what happened to them? Do you know what happened to
them? God said, Stand over yonder, get over there, and the rest
of you get over here. Everybody that's with that bunch,
get over there, and the rest of you that's on my, get over
here. And God opened the earth up, and as old Barnard said,
he sent them to hell without giving them an opportunity to
pack a suitcase. He opened up the earth and swallowed them.
Swallowed them. Just because they had ambition. They wanted to make a name for
themselves. Moses, you're not the only one around here that
knows anything. That's what he was saying. And oh my, and then
there's, look what it said here in Proverbs 20 and verse six. Most men will proclaim ever one
his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. Ever man, oh, that's what our
Lord said that scribes and Pharisees, they love to stand in the street
corner with their long robes and pray. They make broad their
phylacteries. They love to make their alms
before men. They sound their trumpets before
they make their alms before men. Oh, they was out to make a name
for themselves, and that was the motive for it, make a name
for themselves. I want a good name in the sense
that I'm honest and have some integrity. But oh my, the name,
the only name that we're interested in magnifying and honoring is
our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not interested in your name,
I'm not interested in your power, anybody else's authority, we're
not interested in that. We're not interested in what
the world thinks is making a big name for themselves. All we're
interested in is making our Lord Jesus Christ's name to be everything. and ours absolutely to be nothing
inside of Him. And oh, look what else they tried
to do now. Look at what this human ambition did. It said down
there in verse 4 again. How are they going to try to
do this? How are they going to make a
name for themselves? How are they going to do it?
Let's make us a city. Let's make us a city and a tower.
Let's build us a city and then a tower, and look where they
want it to go to. They want to go all the way to heaven with
it. They honestly thought they could
build a tower and go into heaven, but that's what they said. You're
talking about human ambition, trying to make a name. Oh, let
us build us a city. Let us build us a tower to heaven. This is always man's way. If
he wants to get to heaven, he got to work. He got to work,
work, work, work, work. If they want to get to heaven,
you got to build, you got to work. Got to build a city where
you'll be safe, a tower of security and hope. Oh, my stronghold is
what he's talking about. Oh, I want to build a tower to
heaven. Rome, Paul told about the Romans,
he said, I mean, the Jews, he said, I'll tell you what, he
said, I bear witness for my brethren. Oh my goodness, they have a zeal.
They're so zealous for God. How do you know they are, Paul?
Because they're going about to establish their own righteousness.
And that's what these fellows are gonna do. They're gonna build
themselves a tower to heaven. There's a couple old songs that
people used to sing all the time. I'm building a bridge. I'm building
it strong and I'm building it wide. And it'll build it across
the great divide. There's a couple another like
that, you know to that people think people talk I'm working
on a building They called it working on a build and working
on a Holy Ghost building. Oh But that's what these fellas
got to do But oh, you know, they said over and I was there 28
said we've made a covenant with death We've made a covenant with
hell You know, we're not afraid of death, and we're not afraid
of hell. And yet, he says, yet you get in a bed that's too short,
and the cover's too narrow, you're always turning, trying to cover
yourself up, and always trying to be all bubbled up in your
bed because it's too short. And I tell you what, that's man's
way, he's always, always working his way to heaven. James and
I was talking about it, earlier today, we were talking about
that, man wants to get to heaven. He was telling about a man that
he knows, and he put it up, the greatest thing I ever done, and
I have no regret is I gave my life to Jesus, I gave my life
to Jesus. Well, I'll tell you something,
here's how we're saved, not giving our lives to Christ, Christ giving
His life for us, that's the difference. We don't give ourselves to Christ.
Christ comes and gave himself for us. Christ did it all. And I'll tell you what, He has
to come and make us willing in the day of His power. He's got
to be the one to come and give us a new heart. He has to give
us a new understanding. He has to give us a new nature.
He has to do it all. And I'll tell you, I feel sorry
for somebody. I gave my life to Jesus. I gave my heart to
Jesus. Well, I'll tell you what, that's
a sad state to be in. I'll tell you, that's the difference
in works and that's the difference in being a believer. Wouldn't
you love to be able to absolutely surrender, entirely surrender
yourself up to Christ for just one moment in your life and not
hold anything back? Oh, but they work, they work,
they work, got to work, got to build us a tower. Oh, we got
to build us a city where we ll be safe, got to have us a tower.
We ll have some security and we ll have some hope. That s
what our Lord talked about two men building two houses, two
fellows built two houses. One fellow, he built his house
and he went out here and he built his house on the sand. Build
it on the sand. You see what happens to people
who build their house on the sand down in Florida? They built their
house on the sand. And then another fella, he digged
down, he built his house on a rock. Built it on a rock. Well, look,
God sent storms. He sent a storm. He sent rain. He sent wind. HE SENT STORMS,
AND IT BEAD, AND BEAD, AND BEAD AGAINST THOSE HOUSES. THAT HOUSE
BUILT ON THE SAND, IT JUST CRUMBLED. BUT WHEN YOU WENT IN THEM, THEY
LOOKED THE SAME. BUT THAT MAN THAT HAD HIS HOUSE ON THE ROCK,
IT STOOD THE STORM, IT STOOD THE STORM. AND I TELL YOU WHAT,
IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A SAFE PLACE TO HIDE, THE ONLY SAFE PLACE
TO HIDE FROM GOD IS TO HIDE IN CHRIST. HUH? And look what they gotta do,
look how they gonna build this tower. Look down here in verse
three, look how they gonna build this tower. And they said one
to another, go to, let's get at it. Let us make brick and
burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone
and slime they had for mortar. Here's how they gonna do it,
let's make brick. Let's make some bricks. And then burn them,
burn them real good, make them good and hard. Oh, a man's trying to save himself. He's in for some hard, hard,
hard labor. Hard labor. Let's make brick. Let's make some brick. And I
tell you what, you know how hard it is to make a brick? A man
trying to save himself has a lot of work to do. In fact, he'll
never, ever stop working. He'll have to work until he gets
to the end of the way. He'll have to work. And oh, my
heart. Why in the world would a man
work trying to save himself? He's got a lot of work to do.
He never gets done. He never gets done. But when
he gets one brick done, he's got to make another. And when
he puts that brick in there, he's got to make another brick.
Lay that down there and make another brick. Lay that down
there. Brick after brick after brick. And put some slime on
there and make another brick. Make another brick. Make another
brick. Hurry, get me some bricks. Give me a brick. Oh, they not
only have to build the building, but they gotta make every brick
that goes into it. And you know when it's done,
when it's done, it's only a brick. Would you like to, how would
you like to make bricks to build your building out of it to be
safe with God? I'm gonna show you a brick builder.
Look over in Luke 18. I'll show you a brick builder.
Here's your brick builder. Luke 18. Yeah, here's your brick builder.
Look in verse nine. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves, trusted in themselves, that they
were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. Now he's talking about somebody
that consider themselves righteous and trusted in themselves. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. Oh God, I thank you. Oh, I thank
you. I'm not like anybody else I know
of. I'm not like anybody else that
I know of. No, I'm not. I'm not like other
men. I don't extort anybody. I'm not
unjust. I'm not like an adulterer. Even
as this publican, he pointed to the fellow right over there
beside him, a publican. And oh my God, I'm so good. I'm
so good at what I do. And I'm such a righteous man.
I feel so good about myself that I fast twice in the week, twice
every week. And I give 10 cents of everything
I possess. I give you 10% of everything
I possess. And oh my, he's building bricks.
He's building bricks, building him a stronghold, building him
a place to live, building him a place of security, building
him a place of security. And oh, and that publican, there's
the difference, publican standing afar off. This is the difference,
oh my. He didn't even lift up his eyes.
Oh God, as he beat on his breast, be merciful to me. And that man
went down to his house, justified, justified. He's a brick maker,
oh my. And our Lord, there was another
fella building brick. He made so much, he got so wealthy,
and done so well in life, That he said, listen, I've got to
tear down every barn I've got and build bigger barns to hold
all my goods. And oh, he felt so good about
himself and felt so good about how he'd made his life secure
and have the thing that he had. And he sat back in his easy chair
and said, oh, so you've had much goods. Time to retire. Well, he sat down to retire. And God said, you fool, tonight,
tonight, I want your soul. Tonight, I want your soul. I
come to get your soul. And I tell you, you know, and
in another instance, there was a wedding made for a king for
his son, great wedding made for his son. And oh, everybody was
in there dressed real nice, and they had a big meal, and they
had all things going on in that king. King went around looking
about all the people that was there invited to the wedding.
And he come up on a fellow there and he said, how'd you get in
here? How'd you get in here? What are
you talking about? Said, you don't have on a wedding garment.
Everybody else is dressed the same, but not you. Take him,
get him out of here. Take him, get out of here. That's
what happens when people want to make a brick. That's what
people, when they want to make a refuge for themselves, the
refuge to hide from God Almighty. But look how God views this.
Look how God views it. And that's what I'm interested
in. What God, how God looks at things. And look what it says
down in verse five. And the LORD came down to see
the city, and the tower, which the children of men builded."
You know, He came down to look at Sodom, let Abraham see how bad Sodom
was. And the LORD came down to see
the city, and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, they're all just
one, and they all have one language. And this they began to do, And
he said, Now nothing, nothing will be restrained from them
which they have imagined to do. Oh my, God's view of it all,
how displeased He was with it all. What with all the building
and all the work that goes into man saving himself, all the work
in making bricks, all the work to do to try to please God, all
the work to try to get yourself to heaven, all that work, does
it please, does it satisfy God? It's only wood, hay, and stubble
fit for the fire. And you know what they was afraid
of back up there in verse 4? It said, Let's make us a name,
lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. And our
Lord says, You know, let's go see the city. And that tells
us that our Lord sees everything a man does. He sees everything
a man does. The Lord came to see. The Lord
came to see. If you ever looked in Psalm 113,
look in Psalm 113. I want you to see something about
God, what God says about Himself. Psalm 113. The Lord sees all that men do. The
Lord came down to see. And He uses language that accommodates
us. God didn't have to come down.
I mean, He can see, He's everywhere at all times. He sees everything. The eyes of the Lord wrote two
and four on the face of the earth, beholding the good and the evil. Look what He said here in verse
4, Psalm 113. The Lord is high above all nations
in His glory. is above the heavens, who is
like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth, dwelleth on high. And look what it says here, who
humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven. He
has to even humble himself to see things in heaven. He has to come down, he humbles
himself. He uses language that we can understand. He has to
humble himself, come down to humble, behold the things that
are in earth and the things that are in heaven. Can you imagine
that? God has to humble, I gotta go
down and see what's going on. Have to humble himself to view
things down here. But the Lord sees everything
that man does. He came down to see. He said,
let's go down and see that city. Let's go down and see that building.
Let's go down and see this building that they're building. He saw
every brick that they made. He saw every drop of sweat. Every act, every motive is under
the inspection of God Almighty. You know how many people are
going to face God about how many souls they've won for the Lord?
I've had a conversation with a couple of men, and he said,
I'd get, the maids would come in to clean a motel room that
I'd be in, or hotel room I'd be in, and I'd win them to the
Lord before they got out of there. I'd win them to Jesus. I'd get
them on elevators, I'd win somebody to Jesus. A fella come to me
one time and he said, you know, said that Southern Baptists would
build you a big, fine building if you wanted one. I said, you
know, we got plenty of money. He said, Do you know how many
building projects I've been involved with? He said, I've been involved
in building projects over and over. I've been involved in starting
churches here. I've been all over the place. Bruce Crabtree was with me when
it happened, and I said, No, I don't want you all to build
me nothing. I don't need nothing from you all. Oh, yeah, well,
listen, you can still run it. You can still be the pastor.
You can still be the preacher. We'll just build you a building. Oh, my. There's folks that I know of
that they go on, they got it on their cars. They
go off places and they go to, on missions. Bunch of campers go on missions.
I don't know what kind of missions they go on. I have no idea. But
a fellow told me one time, come here years ago, He said, we need
to be doing something. We need to be doing something.
I said, well, what would you have us do? He said, I don't
know. And I said, but we need to be
doing something. I said, well, whatever it is you need to do,
just get up and start doing it. Just do what you want to do.
Just do what, if you want to do something, do it. Do it. But I, Lord Jesus Christ,
God Almighty, He sees every building a man builds. He sees every brick
a man burns. He sees every drop of sweat,
every act that a man does, every motive in everything that he
does. God Almighty's eye inspects it and looks it over from top
to bottom. Has he ever, ever, ever found
anything or anyone to please him, honor him, and glorify him
the way he's worthy? Yes, he has. He said, I delight,
I come, I delight to do thy will. Oh God, thy will I delight to
do. Thy law is written within my
heart. I'm going to declare thy righteousness
among the great congregation. Oh my, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. And oh my, and the Hebrews chapter
4 and verse 10 I believe says,
You know, cease from your works and enter into rest, even as
God ceased from His own works and enter into His rest. The
only thing that God does for a man is give him faith to believe. Without faith it s impossible
to please God. It isn t doing but believing.
It isn t working but resting. And then look what God does to He said in verse 7, He said,
I'm not going to restrain men anymore. Let's go down and there
confound their language that they might not understand one
another again. Let's go down there that they
won't even be able to talk to one another. Everybody will be
talking in a language they won't have a clue what the other was
saying. It had all been one language, you know, and now He says, Let's
go down there and confound their language, that they may not understand
one another's speech. And oh, my, look what happens
in verse 9, And then the Lord scattered them abroad from all
the face of the earth, and they left off to build that city.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there
confound the language of all the earth, and did scatter them
abroad upon the face of the old earth." Oh my! He confounded
them. And that's something God does
all the time. That's something God does all the time. He confounds
this world. He absolutely confounds this
world. People, you know, and you know this as well as I do,
they have this thing they call climate change, you know, and
everybody's got to try to do something to help the climate,
help things to be better. Now, let me ask you something.
How in the world does God flood the eastern United States and
the Smoky Mountains? How does he do that from a hurricane
all the way in Florida? What could we have done to stop
that? What could we have done to stop that? What could we do
to stop God Himself having His way in the world? Can we stop God from doing what
He will do? And that's what, you know, God
confounds. We're in a drought right here.
I've lost my yard this summer from a drought. I ain't got enough
grass to mow hardly. And I've lost my, and listen
here, and everybody else is getting flooded. You know, somebody had
a whole bunch of rain yesterday, sprinkles. Why does God do that? He'll cause something to happen
over yonder. He said, I'll cause it to rain in the city and I'll
let your corn dry up. That's the way God does it, to
make people scratch their heads and say, I thought we had this
figured out. I thought we done figured out
how we're gonna control things. I thought we was gonna get green
all over the place. We're gonna stop the wind over
here. One president said one time,
we're gonna stop the seas from rising. Tell that fella that
the water got up six or eight feet in his house. Tell that fella that you can't
go down the street for the sand that he washed up out of the
ocean into the streets. God does what He does and there
ain't a thing in the world we can say about it and do about
it. And I tell you what, we can help people that's in trouble,
we can do all we possibly can. But I'm telling you what, God
confuses people. And how Scott used to say, he
said, you're confused because your mama was confused and your
daddy was confused, and you're going to raise a bunch of confused
kids, too. Oh, I'll tell you something.
God's presence confounds the self-righteous. God's presence
confounds the self-willed. They'll leave off their vain
presumptuous works one of these days. He said, That this well-pleasing
in the sight of men is an abomination, an abomination in the sight of
God. And I tell you, He said, He that
believeth on the Son of God shall not be confounded. And look at
God's judgment on these people. It says there that in verse 8,
The Lord scattered them abroad, thence from all the face of the
earth, and they left off to build the city. Do you know what their
whole purpose of doing what they was doing? It said back up there
in verse 4, it said, Lest we be scattered abroad upon the
face of the earth. What they was trying to keep
from happening, what they was trying to prevent, exactly what God did to them.
They said, let's make us a tower so we can all be together, make
a name for ourselves. We'll get up to heaven, and so
lest we be scattered abroad. What did God do? Scattered them
abroad. They was working like crazy to
keep from being scattered abroad. What'd God do? Get you here,
get there, get on. He scattered them everywhere.
Scattered them everywhere. Oh my. You know, trying to work
to do their own way, and God confounded them. God left them
to the sales, God gave them up. Men work, men labor to save themselves
from being cast out from the presence of God, and the way
things they do is what will cause them to be cast out in doubt
and darkness. The very things that they do
to keep from being cast out by God is the very thing that God's
going to cast them out for. Now let me tell you about another
tower. You can look it up yourself. You can look it up yourself,
tell you another tower. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. Psalm, Proverbs 18, 10, the name
of the Lord is a strong tower. And the righteous, the righteous
run into it and are safe, are safe. You know what Abraham was
looking for instead of building a city, and what he was looking
for? He was looking for a city, you know, whose builder and maker
was God. These fellas wanna build a city,
make a name for themselves. Abraham said, I'm gonna find
a city. I'm looking, I'm looking. When
I find that city that God built, that's where I'm gonna stay,
right there in that city where God built it. And oh my. Oh, cease from your labors in
Israel's rest even as God looked his. And I'll tell you somebody
that won't be confounded. He that believeth on me, he that
believeth on Christ, he that believeth on God shall not be
brought to shame, shall not be confounded. You know what? We're the only people that has
a language that nobody else knows. We speak a language that most
folks don't have a clue what it is. We speak a language of
grace, mercy, sovereignty, God's will, God's power, God's grace,
God's purpose. We're not talking about man,
we're talking about God. We're talking about His glory
and His power. We cease from your works as God did from His.
And I tell you, He didn't enter into rest because He's tired.
He's entered because the work's done. And that's why we enter
into rest. The work is done. It is finished. Over and done with. Huh? Taleo. That means it is finished. It is accomplished. Done. Done. What a rest. What a rest. Our Father, in the precious,
precious name of your Son, oh, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ,
oh, we bless you for him. Bless you, Lord Jesus, that you
come, gave yourself for us, that you come to cleanse us from all
our iniquity, wash us throughly, throughly, and Lord, Help us
to be a faithful witness for you when we get opportunity.
Help us to glorify your holy name. Help us to make your name
to be everything to us and everyone else that we get an opportunity
to speak to. Help us, oh Lord Jesus, to be
submitted to you and committed to you and obey you and come
to you in Christ's name, his merit, his worth, his righteousness.
Lord, God bless these dear saints as they go their way. Folks that
have to travel, please give them safe travels. And Lord Jesus,
we thank you for everything you've done for us. Thank you for every
scripture read, every prayer prayed. And Lord, every word,
I pray, that honored and glorified you. Please use it to your glory. Forgive me of everything that's
unlike you. For Christ's sake, amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim. in the light of His glory and
grace. See you Wednesday, God willing.